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I am curious what is the main saw you use for guitar building?

I currently have an old Craftsman 10" Table Saw, A Craftsman 10" Radial Arm, and a very old 14" Band Saw (I think it is a Craftsman but it isn't marked)

I use to do cabinet making and custom tables and found my table saw was my main saw, radial #2 and my band saw #3. When I started doing guitar repair seriously I have found my band saw is getting used a lot more, so much that I refurbished it a few years ago. I never really used it much because it just isn't that great of a tool and had a tend icy to wander a bit. When I refurbished it it now works pretty well and I find I am using it a lot more.

To be honest, I have always had a very healthy respect for my Table saw and it sometimes scares me when trying to cut small pieces so I turn to my band saw more and more.

In my life I have had a handful of times when I have had some pretty scary moments with my Table saw, It happened just a couple of days ago while cutting some brace material. I was using my push stick when all of a sudden the saw grabbed the brace and spit it out. I learned long ago to never stand directly behind the blade and it shot out and hit the wall which is about 15 feet away. I carefully shut the saw off, got my piece of wood and when directly over to my band saw. I feel safe with that and actually enjoy working with it.

All three are showing their age and I need to replace them so I was wondering what your Go-To saw is.

Also, what size and brand of band saw do you have and what would you recommend. As you probably know you don't get rich repairing guitars so I am on a tight budget.

Cheers,
Bob

The only power saw I have is a Bandsaw, 6 " depth of cut. Even that is getting used less and less. In fact these days it's set up with a fine thin kerf blade to do inlays and rosettes. The same blade can be used to rip linings and braces. I often find that it's quicker to grab a hand saw and cut material rather than swap out blades on the Bandsaw. Of course I'm not resawing timber for Backs/Sides. The bandsaw is just a cheap far east import with a good blade and I upgraded the guides, from roller bearings to wooden dowels! Believe me, it was an upgrade. It cuts as good as I need it to.

Sorry if this has been asked before. I figured it had been but I sort of gave up on trying to use the search function here because it is gives so many scattered and fragmented results it is just too difficult to actually find what you are looking for.

As you can probably tell from my question I am probably going to buy a good band saw next, but was just wondering what other people considered their "main" saw.

Cheers,
Bob

P.S. If no one really wants to re-hash the topic, I understand so just let the thread die... my feelings won't be hurt

I do not have a table saw. I have 2 Band saws: a 14" Grizzly 1.5hp w riser; and an early 12" craftsman that was given to me. I use both equally, with thinner more tip blade on the 12", and a bigger blade for resaw, cutting larger stock on the grizzly. My shop is small, and unfortunately do not have room for a table saw. I have entertained the idea of getting one of those small proxxon table saws, but have not done so yet.

Glenn

My table saw by a hair, bandsaw second, japanese back saw third, X-acto razor saw fourth……….. saws are good

Table and band saw are a toss up. Radial arm saw was removed from my shop some years ago, I think they're dangerous. I happen to have a decent 10" cutoff saw with good blade so that comes in real handy. My main handsaw is a Japanese backsaw.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Thanks for clarifying Filippo, I didn't really think about it but didn't want to dredge up an old topic. I didn't take offense so thanks for the reply. it is hard to offend me and usually I will just bow out instead of getting people upset.

@SteveSmith, Funny, Radial saws don't scare me nearly as much as Table saws. I guess because many years ago I worked in a furniture factory (one of my first jobs) doing glue ups for drawer sides and I worked near the rough mill. I would see these "old timers" with fingers and thumbs missing and it horrified me. One of the guys only had 2 fingers on one had... I think that was ingrained into my brain so now I have a huge respect for them. Radial saws can jump forward if you don't have the claws set correctly but even then I usually give it the stiff arm and cut slowly.

I actually got stabbed in the back when I was in junior high school by a lath chisel. Our laths were set up against a wall (4 of them) on an angle. The guy behind me was screwing around and jambed the chisel into the spinning wood and it took off, bounced off the wall and hit me in the back. Noting serious but I did end up with a nice slice in my back. Sp I gained a good respect for all power tools early on.

this little fella: http://www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de/product ... osscut.htm

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Funny but I guess a lot of times it's the experiences you have. When I was framing we each used to take a turn spending a day making corners and headers. The saw was a big trailer mounted radial arm saw, I think a 14" probably made in the late 50's or early 60's. I had some near misses with that thing and I was always really careful with it. That thing would hit a bad spot in the wood and blow stuff out or shoot wood out - downright scary. Later when I went out on my own I spent lots of time with a 10" Sears radial arm saw. Because it's what I had, I did a fair amount of ripping with it - by far the worst thing to do on an RA saw. One of my first jobs I was ripping some 2x4 stock and shot one out of the building through an open door and damned if it didn't hit the door of my Jeep pickup and left a pretty good dent. Never stood behind a rip blade again - not counting skill saws, of course.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Mine is pretty much the same Item 770-3500 from here http://www.diefenbacher.com/saws.htm. Cuts fast and easy, with a fine kerf. Only drawback is the limited cutting depth.

Right now, it's a toss up between my two bandsaws. I have a 10" table top and a 14" bigger one. On the 14" I have a little more aggressive
blade, and obviously a thinner one on the tabletop. It's funny, but the small one, on the right piece, will actually cut quicker than the big one, lol.
Outside of those two, if I could ever get around to ordering the thin blade and support thingy, I'd probably use my radial arm saw a lot more.
As it is, it just sits there and collects dust (It's older and I haven't even changed the table out, even though there's new material stacked beside it).
My table saw is very handy in it's own right; it holds things better than most of my benches. I just found out the other day it actually has a
motor and a blade. Who'd of thought it? If it wasn't the #1 gluing station, I'd try to cut things with it. As it is, however, that's low on the priority list.

Well Bob,

Really ..who gives a shift...but if you really must know...

Me table saw and band saw are both Atlas and older than me...an me ain't no spring chicken. Me been pushin wood through them for near on 50 years now.

Chop offs, radials and compound cutting thingies are all Deltas.

Current jointer is a piece of Taiwanese junk....but ya know ... it gets the job done did.

Foley Bellsaw for thicknesing...me gonna send it down the road when the snow melts...me just don't be using it no more .

All hand held e-lectrical banchies are green or red so that would be Makita or Milwaukee.

Benchtops are all Deltas...you know the $99. on sale specials that usually burn out in about 3 years.

Now as all these thingmees each do a different job..what me go to depends of what me cutting ~ can you imagine that.

However go to hand saw is a Crappy Tire crosscut me dad bought back in about 1950 or so. She be all rusted out but real sharp...other wise what good is it?

Well Bob, any other useless info you need to know? Just ask ~


blessings
?adma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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There is really no "go-to" saw in my shop, until a specific task is identified. That said, I think the band saw is more versatile than the table saw, but not as much of a work horse. That's just my opinion, but even considering all that, you or I or any of us could do all of these procedures without power tools at all. In fact, I often pick up a hand saw for certain simple operations, just because I am not on a schedule and I don't particularly like to listen to electric motors and blades whirring and buzzing. I use machines for their precision and their repeatability of cuts, but I don't really like them. I do this as a hobby, and I like picking up a hand tool sometimes. A few readers will know what I mean. Many others will also know, but they are on a schedule and must maximize their production time, so they need high quality power tools. They will chime in.

Same as Miguel here, I love my mini douzuki saw.

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

Defiantly the bandsaw, my favorite handsaw is my Adria dovetail saw. Almost feel guilty using it so much other than on dovetails. Mostly because I never learned to sharpen a handsaw. Clinton

By far my 18" bandsaw. Love that thing. But I know you meant hand tools. So, have to say I love my inexpensive, but highly effective and useful Zona saws. Yes, you can spend more, but, these are so well made I choose not to.

My 14 inch band saw, the only one I have. I use it all of the time. I have a table saw but only use it for a set of well defined tasks. Like laying out a classical bridge.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Thanks for all the replies.


@Mike O'Melia


Actually I meant power saw but if someone favors "Old School" I am interested in hearing what they use.

I have a 10" Shark Saw (pull saw) that wasn't very expensive that I use quite a bit for cutting small stuff like braces to length or shims or cauls for gluing. I enjoy working with hand tools and I love using my planes but I tore my rotator cuff (shoulder) and had surgery on it a few years ago and I can't do as much pushing or pulling as I once could. Otherwise for guitar building I would be full on Old School. But those days are past.

@emoney,



I feel my Radial saw is similar, I keep cleaning the stuff off of it but it doesn't get used much for guitar stuff. I used it a lot when I was doing cabinets and tables but not so much any more. If I had to loose one it would probably be that.


@ the Padma


Actually I do... That is why I started this thread. But thanks for sharing your inventory of tools.



Have you ever heard the saying "Everybody likes a little ass, but no one likes a smart ass"?

It may be useless info to you but I am looking to replace one of my power saws and since I am just now finally learning to build guitars I wanted to hear what people thought was their "Go-To" saw. As you may know you can't get rich on repairing guitars so I have a limited budget to be able to buy a big purchase like a good saw. So this info is a big help to me.

@johnparchem, That sounds a bit like me, Except for the Classical guitar part... I need to get a few steel string boxes finished before I would even think about tackling a Classical.



Again, Thanks guys for the info. I wasn't really sure what I should replace first, my table saw or my band saw and it sounds like a lot of you would say your tool of choice would be a band saw.

Cheers,
Bob

I have a 14" Jet bandsaw, a 12" Makita sliding compound miter saw and a 10" INCA table saw. I find that these cover nearly everything I need to do with cutting. The 12" Makita is my de facto radial arm saw as it has a pretty tall and deep cut capacity and I'd rather have one saw for cutting miters and rough cuts. I can't quite set it up to do dado cuts like a RAS, because the saw won't pass all the way through the fence on it, (Just got an idea though to extend the fence out which would let me...). I'd like a little more capacity with my bandsaw but I can't complain about it, got a really good price on a floor model from a contractor who used it only in his house while remodeling. The INCA is an interesting saw and initially it didn't make a lot of sense but I've really grown to like it. It has a tilting table on it rather than a tilting arbor, but I don't make a lot of miter cuts on my table saw so it hasn't been a huge problem. It has a riving knife and the fence is a lot shorter than typical US saws, I guess this is more of a Euro standard. The idea is it allows you to clear out your material after the cut sooner than with a long fence and at first I was reticent, but now I like it. The fence also has an auxiliary short fence which is basically a piece of angle aluminum that sits flush on the table about 1/8" thick and you set it up so that it ends right after the infeed of the saw blade. This allows for small, indexed cuts on short stock with a miter gauge and it works really well. After using it now for a little while I'm kind of surprised that some of these features haven't become more popular in the US. For a small saw it's surprisingly capable and feels pretty safe, (which is not something I normally equate with contractor sized saws, they generally have always felt sketchy to me)

My 18" bandsaw. It's really the only powered saw I have because I have not gotten a tablesaw (much more useful for furnituremaking than guitarmarking, but still useful nevertheless). I want a tablesaw however but there's no way I'm buying that plywood deathtrap everyone in Taiwan uses. Sometimes I need to break up sheet goods or make inside cuts, so I would borrow my friend's jigsaw and circular saw for that.

They started offering Sawstop in Taiwan but it's so expensive, in fact I could buy a cabinet tablesaw (real tablesaw, not plywood deathtrap) for 1/2 the price... However the other issue is space is extremely limited and it's already populated with the bandsaw, drill press/compressor bench thingie, belt/disc sander, and jointer as well as workbench. I really should be getting a drum sander before the tablesaw because it helps me a LOT, it also helps me establish better relationship with other luthiers in the area...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

For guitar making the 14 inch bandsaw with a 1/4 inch wide blade is probably the most useful tool. If the tires will track a blade and you have a decent set of guides (friction guides work fine) then for guitar work what you have is probably fine.
If I were looking to replace one of those three tools today, I would consider replacing the tablesaw. I see a fair number of good used unisaws and 66's going pretty cheap these days, and whereas you can get by with a crappy bandsaw perfectly fine, a good tablesaw works so much better (and safer) than a bad one that that is what I would replace.
I have been using tablesaws quite a few years and have had a few near misses. One thing I did a few years back was buy a book on the tablesaw. It showed a number of jigs and procedures for using the saw that made it safer to operate. It taught this old dog a few new tricks.

You'll spend more than a good tablesaw, bandsaw, and jointer combined if you go all handsaw... some of those handsaws plus a really heavy bench to go with it ain't cheap. It's also hard to make a living going all hand tools...

How gentle of a curve can you cut on a tablesaw? I'd be afraid to cut any curve on a tablesaw, even if it's really gentle for fear of kickback.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

No curves on a table saw!

No matter what power saw you are using, you are going to dress the cut for appearance or fit, so it doesn't much matter as long as it is quick and easy and safe. My table saw turns into a storage surface when I am making instruments and I use a medium grade Delta 14" bandsaw and a variety of hand planes to trim and dress. The Radial Saw went about 20 years ago when I got scared of it. I learned woodworking on western style push saws, so have never gotten into the Japanese saws. I have a matched set (accumulated over many years) of 1900 or so Disston hacksaws from 8" to 14", rip and crosscut, and 11 ppi to 16 ppi. My eyes aren't good enough to sharpen past about 13-14 ppi any more, so I send those out. More fun to use a sharp saw. I also have one of the little Exacto miter boxes and the saw with the replaceable blade that is very handy.

A little perseverance and you can come with a good (good means surface rust only and no pitting, and dead straight) backsaw for under $15

I use a band saw for just about everything that requires power. I have a 12in Craftsman. At some point I'd like to get a larger saw for resawing full sized backs and tops but so far the 6in clearance has been good enough for my reclaimed wood guitars with 4-piece backs. But for just about anything from outlining the top, linings, bracing, laminated necks and blocks and so on I use the band saw. In the last thread that we talked about this I found it surprising that so many luthiers favor a table saw. I have no use for one and quite frankly they scare me.

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Curves on a table saw piece of cake...

Jacobean twists, doe foot Queen Annes and vice threads...well now we is talking but then me no makes furnitures no mores.

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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